Thursday, March 14, 2013

Replacing Google Reader

I was about to throw a fit at the news of Google Reader's impending demise, but then I saw this announcement from Feedly: 

http://blog.feedly.com/2013/03/14/google-reader/

...which is good news.

I do think that Google is being short-sighted in this decision, though. I know that there has been declining use of Reader, and that many people depend on social sharing instead, but I really believe that most of the social discovery process is driven by a select few "super-sharers" who get their information from services like Google Reader. It's like getting rid of farms because most people get their food at grocery stores. 

My commitment to the Google/Android ecosystem has been, in part, because of the investment I have in Google Reader as the backbone of my research/continuing education/professional development process. I'm not as committed to that now.

Posted by Rob Amend at 9:15 AM 0 comments Links to this post  

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Sunday, January 13, 2013

eLearning Articles of the Week (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by Rob Amend at 6:30 AM 0 comments Links to this post  

Sunday, January 06, 2013

eLearning Articles of the Week (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by Rob Amend at 6:31 AM 0 comments Links to this post  

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Missing Tool of the Week--Chromebook and Nexus 10



The holidays have somewhat interrupted my weekly tool overview, so I've decided to focus this week on a tool I was hoping to get over the holidays, plus one I have been promoting to my wife as she looks to replace her laptop soon. The irony is that both tools are unavailable, and have been for some time. I'm speaking of Google's Samsung Chromebook, and the Nexus 10.

Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi) - Google PlayMy wife uses her laptop mainly for internet searching and word processing, and she's looking for a way to automatically back up everything she writes, so she can access it from multiple locations. She uses many Google products, so there's no desire to move to Apple's eco-system. The Chromebook would be perfect for her, but the Samsung model got better reviews than the cheaper Acer model. It has been sold out for a while, though, with no indication that it will be available soon. It can't really be "For Everyone" if it's not available, right?

She is still thinking about her purchase. I, on the other hand, had already made up my mind to get the Nexus 10 tablet. I've been working with a number of tablet devices lately  including the iPad, the Kindle Fire, the Nook Color, and I've tried a few hands on demos with the Nexus 7. I really have a lot invested in Google's digital infrastructure, so I have no desire to start messing around with iTunes, and I really want to be able to have access to as many apps as possible, so The Nexus devices seem ideal to me. The Nexus 7 got great reviews, but I'd like to have access to a larger screen for displaying my photos, and there are a few presentations I'd like to use it with. I also want access to a camera on both sides of the device.

Nexus 10 (16GB) - Google PlayYou can see the problem with this, though. The device has been unavailable for some time. There isn't even a way to pre-order it, or to be notified when it's available! I'm not sure if it will be available when I'm ready to pull the trigger on the purchase, which will be soon.

So, I think that these would be cool tools, but I'm not sure if I'll ever know. The tablet and laptop markets are moving so quickly, these may be obsolete by the time they are in stock again, which is a shame.

Hmm....those Windows 8 devices are looking pretty cool. Sure, they're more expensive, but it looks like I won't be spending my money anytime soon. I'll have time to save up.

Posted by Rob Amend at 12:42 PM 1 comments Links to this post  

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

eLearning Articles of the Week (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by Rob Amend at 6:30 AM 0 comments Links to this post  

Sunday, December 23, 2012

eLearning Articles of the Week (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by Rob Amend at 6:30 AM 0 comments Links to this post  

Monday, December 17, 2012

Cool Tool of the Week--Pocket

There are so many tools for reading articles out there, that there is no way I could cover all of them. I will tell you that the one that I have been using for a short time, Pocket (formerly Readability Read It Later), is one of the most useful PLN tools I have come across in a while.

What a pleasant surprise that when I added the Pocket extension to Chrome, I found a Send to Pocket button next to each item in Google Reader. Each morning, I skim through Reader, picking titles or summaries that look intriguing. Later in the day, during breaks, or lunch, I open up the Pocket app in my Kindle Fire (if you sync it with wifi, the items are available offline) where I can read, delete, mark as favorite, or apply tags to each item. It even has a bulk edit function.

Finally, Pocket is one of the supported services at IFTTT, so you can automate things like bookmarking at Diigo, links to Evernote, automated blog publishing, or a combination of these and other activities. Pocket has really helped to simplify my reading workflow.

Posted by Rob Amend at 2:00 AM 2 comments Links to this post  

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